1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information transmission apparatus which is connected to a terminal apparatus for personal use via a communication network, for editing information intended for a person on the basis of terminal information and transmitting the information to the terminal apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior arts relating to an information transmission apparatus which searches for a database in accordance with a request sent from a terminal via a communication network and transmits the searched information to the terminal are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications JP-A 9-148994(1997), JP-A 9-74389(1997) and JP-A 9-190373(1997), for example.
JP-A 9-148994 proposes a system in which, when link data displayed using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and the like is included in the transmitted data, the end of the link is changed in accordance with the user and information suited to the recipient is transmitted. JP-A 9-74389 proposes a data broadcast reception system which makes a selection by comparing the data received by the receiving terminal with personal information. JP-A 9-190373 proposes an information perusal processing apparatus which collates an identification number inputted from a client terminal in a selective operation processing routine of a server to select whether or not secure data is to be transmitted.
In the technology proposed in JP-A 9-148994, because the document is partially replaced in accordance with the personal information of the user, the information transmission can be performed rapidly via the initial information communication network. However, since the user cannot actually access the information for the person unless the link is traced, in the case of a terminal which is not usually connected to the computer network, the terminal cannot establish a connection until the link is traced, which brings a problem that the communication cost rises.
The prior art disclosed in JP-A 9-74389 is effective in the case where the same amount of information must be distributed regardless of the number of receiving terminals, the case such as broadcasting. However, in the case where data is distributed via a wired communication network, the amount of information under transmission which is to arrive at the receiving terminals is large, causing a throng on the information communication band. Therefore, the information distribution cannot be performed efficiently. In order to perform the information distribution efficiently, it is necessary to trim the information on the transmitting side as well.
The prior art disclosed in JP-A 9-190373 merely provides an arrangement for determining whether or not to transmit information accumulated in a server to a user requesting access in accordance with the privacy level of the information, and does not disclose automatic manipulation of information in conformance with the user.
An object of the invention is to provide an information transmission apparatus which is capable of transmitting information adapted for the terminal and the person in response to an information access request from a terminal.
The invention provides an information transmission apparatus for transmitting information in response to an information access request from a terminal apparatus connected via a communication network, the information transmission apparatus comprising:
a terminal information receiving section for analyzing an information access request sent from a terminal apparatus and received via a communication network and extracting terminal information in the request;
a personal information collating section accumulating personal information, for extracting personal information for a person corresponding to the terminal information received by the terminal information receiving section, from the accumulated personal information by collation with the terminal information as a key;
an information server section accumulating accessible information as a database, for fetching and collecting information corresponding to the access request from the database in accordance with the personal information extracted by the personal information collating section;
an information editing section for editing the information collected by the information server section on the basis of the personal information extracted by the personal information collating section and the terminal information received by the terminal information receiving section; and
an information transmission section for transmitting the information edited by the information editing section to the terminal apparatus sending the information access request.
According to the invention, an information access request sent from a terminal apparatus via a communication network is received by the terminal information receiving section and analyzed. The terminal information received by the terminal receiving section is used as a key for collation of personal information accumulated in the personal information collating section in order to extract personal information for a person corresponding to the terminal information therefrom. The server section, which accumulates accessible information as a database, fetches and collects information from the database in accordance with the personal information extracted by the personal information collating section. The information editing section edits the information collected by the information server section on the basis of the personal information extracted by the personal information collating section and the terminal information received by the terminal information receiving section. The information transmission section transmits the information edited by the information editing section to the terminal apparatus sending the information access request. Since the information collected in accordance with the personal information and edited in accordance with the terminal information is transmitted to the terminal apparatus sending the information access request, the information requested by the terminal apparatus can be received by the terminal apparatus in the form having been edited to adapt to the terminal apparatus. When the terminal apparatus is a portable terminal, or when the display unit or the capacity of memory is small, the information is transmitted after narrowing down the information, so that it is possible to provide the user with necessary information without causing a throng to the network resources.
In the invention it is preferable that the information transmission apparatus further comprises an access monitoring section for monitoring information communication from the reception of the information access request from the terminal apparatus until the transmission of the information, and storing a history of information access in the personal information collating section in relation to the terminal apparatus, and the personal information collating section reflects the history of information access to the extracted personal information.
According to the invention, the access monitoring section monitors the information communication from reception of the information access request from the terminal apparatus until transmission of the information and stores the history of the information access in the personal information collating section in relation to the terminal apparatus. The personal information collating section reflects the history of information access to the extracted personal information. Therefore, the user of the terminal apparatus is able to view with a greater degree of preference information of the type the user normally prefers to read as the frequency of use increases. Thus, the labor involved in finding preferred information is reduced.
Moreover, in the invention it is preferable that the information editing section collects and edits information to be transmitted in advance before an information access request is received from the terminal apparatus, and when information conforming to the personal information extracted by the personal information collating section and the terminal information received by the terminal information receiving section is edited by the information editing section at the time of reception of the information access request, the information transmission section transmits the edited information to the terminal apparatus.
According to the invention, the information editing section edits information to be transmitted before an information access request is received from the terminal apparatus is collected and edited in advance by the information editing section. And the information transmission section transmits the edited information to the terminal apparatus in the case where the personal information extracted by the personal information collating section and the terminal information received by the terminal information receiving section are already edited by the information editing section at the time of reception of the information access request from the terminal apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the length of time during which the terminal apparatus connects to the network from sending the information access request to receiving the information.
Moreover, in the invention it is preferable that a plurality of information server sections are provided so as to be distributed over the network, and one information server section serving as a main server collects information from other information server sections serving as sub servers.
According to the invention, a plurality of server sections are distributed over the network, and one information server section serving as a main information server section collects information from the other information server sections serving as sub information server sections. Therefore, there is no need to accumulate the information for all terminal apparatuses as a database in one information server section, and information can be transmitted to the terminal apparatus sending the information access request by collecting the information accumulated in other information server sections as databases.
Moreover, in the invention it is preferable that the plurality of information server sections have the same function, and each information server section serving as the sub server also can collect information from other information server sections, while regarding the other information server sections as its sub servers and referring to the terminal information and the personal information.
According to the invention, the plurality of information server sections have the same function, and each information server section serving as the sub server also can collect information from other information server sections, while regarding the other information server sections as its sub servers and referring to the terminal information and the personal information. Because the data accumulated in the plurality of information server sections as their own database can be collected to be transmitted to the terminal apparatus sending the information access request, it is possible to detect the load of collecting information of each server section.
According to the invention, the terminal apparatus sending the information access request receives the information optimized on the basis of the personal information and the terminal information, so that the information reader using the terminal apparatus can obtain necessary and sufficient amount of information without causing a throng to the network resources.
Further, according to the invention, collection and edition of the information are carried out with reference to the history indicating the information access requests that are made by the information reader, the user of the terminal apparatus, so that it is possible to readily obtain similar information related to those having been already read by the reader.
Further, according to the invention, when an information access request is received from the reader of the information or the like via a terminal apparatus, information prepared in advance can be transmitted, so that it is possible to reduce the time during which the terminal apparatus connects to the communication network and to shorten the waiting time required of the information reader using the terminal apparatus.
Moreover, according to the invention, it is not necessary for a main information server section to accumulate all the accessible information as a database thereof, and the database may be accumulated with being distributed to other sub information server sections, so that it is possible to reduce the memory required for accumulating the database of the main information server section and to readily give a room to the memory, which allows the most current information to be easily collected.
Further, according to the invention, because the plurality of information server sections each function as information collectors, the burden on the main information server is lightened, allowing efficient accumulation of the information by distributing the accumulation points.